Independent Review

  In writing this review, my colleague and I exchanged views with Director Hirokazu Hashimoto and editorial staff at Anritsu Corporation in charge of preparing the Anritsu CSR Report 2006. We wanted them to understand the purpose and appropriate content of the report and to improve it for as long as time constraints permitted. As a result, points we made were actively discussed among the staff, agreed upon and reflected in this report, within a very short time, although some points were regarded as issues to be dealt with in the future. We were impressed by the company's sincere attitude toward outsiders' opinions. President Hiromichi Toda said in his message in this report that "good communication with all of its stakeholders is one of Anritsu's major responsibilities to society" and "dealing with and finding solutions to communication issues enhances Anritsu's value to society." I believe that Anritsu Corporation has made progress toward these ends.

  This attitude is reflected in many sections of this report. It has just 34 pages, but includes many essential items, which are mostly treated quantitatively, allowing the reader to understand Anritsu's approach to CSR activities and achievements. This is also due to the fact that starting with this issue of the CSR report 2006, the report is structured along the lines of The Anritsu Group Charter of Corporate Behavior. Normally, the charter of corporate behavior serves as the foundation of CSR activities. However, actual activities are often not related to the charter and thereby deviate from it. Structuring CSR report content according to the charter helps foster recognition of the charter's influence on CSR activities, CSR reporting and the consequent progress of such work. In our exchange of views, we came to realize that Anritsu Group has succeeded in its objectives to make CSR progress transparent, and promote CSR by assigning greater importance to the report preparation process. I observed that the particular structure and quantitative detail of the CSR Report 2006 brought success.

  Although this CSR Report can be evaluated highly, such reports must continue to evolve in addressing issues concerning society and stakeholders. For example, businesses' information disclosure and internal controls are attracting a lot of attention, so enforcement of the Company Law and Financial Instrument and Exchange Law is getting stricter. CSR reports need to deal with these interests. The Anritsu CSR Report could deal with them in outlining the company's disclosure policy and specific examples as well as discussing requirements and activities for guaranteeing independence and neutrality of outside directors and outside auditors. We hope Anritsu Group will continue to communicate with all of its stakeholders and address such vital topics in the report.

  As 50% of the Anritsu Group's sales come from outside of Japan and employees outside of Japan account for 40% of all Anritsu Group employees, it is indispensable that CSR from a global perspective is reflected in the report. As Director Hashimoto believes that global CSR will remain a concern in the future, we hope the CSR Report will touch on it. In March 2006, Anritsu Corporation took part in a Global Compact as part of its global CSR activities. We hope that future reports will refer to the efforts to advance each of the 10 Principles of the Global Compact.

Editor's Note

  Thank you very much for reading this report, which was prepared with particular attention to the following five points:
First, we gave the report a human face, with the commitment of our top executives expressed in their address and message columns. Second, as with the previous CSR report, we considered the act of reporting about CSR itself to be a valuable CSR promotion activity. Thanks to cooperation throughout the Anritsu Group, we were able to gather all the relevant information required for the report. Third, we aimed at clearly conveying the message to employees that CSR should be promoted continuously companywide. Fourth, we made it our duty to report to our stakeholders all of our processes and achievements in social activities such as attaining customer satisfaction, contributing to local communities, advancing operations through the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Act) cycle method, in addition to preserving the global environment. Fifth, we edited this report within the framework of The Anritsu Group Charter of Corporate Behavior to give Anritsu's stakeholders a fuller understanding of how our CSR focus advances our larger goals.
  However, we could have done even better to satisfy our readers. We will therefore continue to inform you of the status of our ongoing CSR activities through Anritsu's website. We are grateful for your comments and opinions, and will consider them, so please feel free to complete and send us the enclosed questionnaire.

CSR Promotion Center